Our 400 Square Feet

We are settling in nicely to our new digs. Chase and I spend a good bit of time at the cottage during the day, going to the main house to visit grandma, do laundry or check email. Chase and I have run to the grocery store a few times and not once did I take the same route… not on purpose mind you… I just didn’t know where I was going. It’s odd… I know where I am going well enough not to ask how to get places but when I actually get on the road to drive, I forget where to go. This is probably the best way to figure out the town… or steal the Garmin from hubby!

In the evenings Adam gets home just in time to give Chase a bath and have story time (man time) and then I nurse him and he goes to sleep around 6:30 – 6:45. After that, we party. Well, have dinner and relax but in our world, that’s a party. We do a lot of our cooking (re: all of our cooking) at the main house. We just haven’t been brave enough to cook in our kitchen when we are so close to Chase sleeping. It works out well… occasionally we join forces with MIL and FIL for dinner and sometimes, it’s just us. We bought a video monitor which has allowed me to not only breathe easily but have some freedom. I can leave the cottage during naps and after he goes to bed so I am not a prisoner in our own home. The monitor never leaves my side and I constantly have it on but I am able to sit in the COG and file paperwork, scrapbook, surf the interwebs, ect… Adam has more freedom to go to meetings which is happier for all involved… I feel less lonely because I have stuff to occupy my time and he gets more of that sobriety!

I hope it’s not terribly presumptuous of me but I imagine people might be curious how we are making things work in such small spaces. If that is the case, read on. If not, please excuse my self centeredness and stop reading ;~)

This is the view from our ‘front door’. I say that in quotes because it just leads to the garage so we really don’t have the traditional front door. That ought to be interesting when we have guests ;~)

This is the view from the foot of the bed toward our front door. As you can see, the shorter dresser was a wreck… clutter is a small spaces worst enemy. So we solved this problem by creating a charging station…



We bought this box from Marshalls for cheap, drilled a keyhole in the back and fed the wires through… ta-dahhhh…. cell phones, bluetooths, and ipods all get charged here. Adam also deposits all of his pocket wares here (camera, wallet, sunglasses, ect…)

Here is where the living room/bedroom really opens up. We are using 1/2 of our couch… the chaise portion resides in the basement. Just to the right of the couch is the door to Chase’s room…


Looking straight in…

Looking to the left…

If you look close you can see a baby being bathed! You can see why the bathroom is pretty much off limits after Chase goes to sleep!

The kitchen is perhaps the most challenging considering you can literally spin in one spot and touch every single portion of it.

As for the 4 inch drawer that I referenced in a previous post…

Small kitchen gadgets… not too shabby but where is the silverware????

It works… and cutting boards go on the top of the rack… ingenious, I know.

An unused bookshelf works remarkably well as a pantry… not the prettiest, but it works… especially with the gate blocking it from little grabby hands!

This is a recent purchase which has a multitude of uses. It’s an ottoman for our poor weary feet when we rest on the couch. It is also blanket storage. It is also a blockade to keep the aforementioned grabby hands away from this lamp…

And Adam’s CPAP machine…


As mentioned before, the COG provides me much happiness. Here is the view as you walk in…

Adam sits at the desk when he works from home… hence the O (office). The treadmill is on the left… G (gym). The craft table is on the right… C (crafts). Here is my very own craft table!

I have already completed 4 pages! It isn’t nearly as tidy as this picture implies!

All in all, this is working out nicely. I hope you enjoyed the tour… if you didn’t, you should have stopped reading long ago ;~)

Also... a shout out to Jaime... today she turns 30! Welcome to the old peoples club... we will be discussing NPR and 'those damn young people' at dinner... 4pm sharp!